New insight into motivation of farmers to plant trees
The research of former Bangor University PhD student Syed Rahman features in a new high-profile blog published by the prestigious Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Syed completed his joint PhD between Copenhagen and Bangor Universities in 2017 and has published four papers from his thesis. This doctoral research has revealed that, despite the economic benefits that farmers in Indonesia and Bangladesh can obtain from agroforestry, there are many barriers to them adopting this practice. The biggest obstacles are tenure insecurity, cultural attachment to traditional swidden crop-cultivation practices, lack of capital to pay for the costs of tree establishment, and lack of knowledge and technical assistance. Overcoming these barriers to increase the rate of tree planting by farmers can make an important contribution to sustainable development, both through improving the welfare of poor farmer households and safeguarding the environment of the farming landscape.
Publication date: 14 May 2018